Save money, take a child

MUM Bridgitte Akam has branded London Transport's ticket pricing system as 'ridiculous' after discovering that it was cheaper for her to travel to London with one of her children than by herself.

Bridgitte, of Hundred Acres Lane, Amersham, couldn't believe her eyes when she studied her train tickets after two trips to London last week. She found it was 60 pence cheaper to travel with her teenage daughter.

A ticket for an adult travelling with a child under 15 between 9.30am and 4.30pm costs £4.40 for the adult and 60 pence for the child, a total of £5, but a ticket for an adult travelling alone at the same time is £5.

Bridgitte explained: "I travelled from Amersham to Charing Cross twice last week, once with my daughter Natalie, who is 13, and once on my own. I did not query the prices at the time but the more I thought about it the more crazy it seemed.

"Does this mean one of my children is worth minus 60 pence? It stands to reason that, if 9.33 children accompany an adult, you can have a free trip to London."

A spokesman for Chiltern Railway said: "The prices that the customer paid were correct. When she travelled with a child she would have bought a Family Travel Card and when she was travelling by herself it would have been a One Day Travel Card."

She added: "This is just another way of promoting family travel and seems to be very popular with our customers."

The Family Travel Card is an ongoing promotion.

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